BCAC Pony Shamrocks Win Over Amityville Knights

By John Nolan

On Saturday night, October 9, the BCAC Shamrocks of the Pony Division won their second game of the year by beating the Amityville Knights, 39–25. The Shamrocks now have two wins, two losses and one tie.

Bobby Martin set the tone of the game on the first play, stopping the Knights running back for a 5-yard loss. The defense, led by Jordan Jessup who had two tackles for negative yards, Mathew Butler, Michael Edwards, Mathew Valentino, Jose Santana, John Nolan, Patrick Minihane, Charlie Bostwich, Steven Kenny and “The Running Bear” all played well. They stopped Amityville on numerous offensive possessions early in the game.

Coach Richie Martin moved players in the second quarter to new positions on defense with fantastic results.

Bostwich had a total of seven tackles as an inside linebacker, one for a 10 yard loss forcing the Knights into a fourth down and 11 yards to go. Salvatore Lalumia entered the defensive line and took part in five tackles. He also helped Bostwich stop Amityville runners on two extra point attempts. Michael Edwards, Vincent Cavangh, Patrick Minihane, Mathew Valentino and Vincent Visconti each assisted with three tackles. Mathew Butler, Kieran Mills and Nicholas Maltese all had two tackles.

Jose Santana not to be out done on his birthday, played like a green giant for the Shamrocks as linebacker, making five tackles when Amityville tried to run the ball up the middle.

Safety Steven Kenny was in on five tackles one saving a touchdown. Dave Cancel also had a touchdown saving tackle of his own on a fourth down play and the Shamrocks took the ball over on downs.

The Shamrock offense exploded on the field with a 25 yard touchdown run from “44 Express” on the first play from scrimmage starting the game with a 6-0 led.

Kieran Mills made his first start as center and snapped the ball very well throughout the game. Patrick Minihane started at quarterback for the first time this season giving Jessup and Nolan the opportunity to block for “The Express Man”, and block they did.

“44 Express” had his best game of the season running the ball for 228 yards and three touchdowns. He also had a 50 yard punt return for a touchdown and an 8 yard touchdown pass from Jessup.

As the Shamrocks were leading by three touchdowns most of the game they began to hand the ball to an array of players. Jessup ran the ball for 77 yards scoring one touchdown. Bostwich ran the ball for 26 yards, Nolan had one run for 9 yards and Martin also getting some play time at the quarterback position ran the ball for 45 yards.

The running was made possible by the offensive line played by Butler, Lalumia, Michael Edwards, Valentino, Nicholas Maltese, Santana, Visconti and Cavangh.

The BCAC Pony Shamrocks next game is against the undefeated Rosedale team on Sunday, October 17, 11:00 a.m. at BCAC Memorial Field.